


Devour

by HammeredAlice



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Blood Drinking, Kagami the vampire newbie, M/M, Vampires
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2018-12-22 22:24:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11976279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HammeredAlice/pseuds/HammeredAlice
Summary: The harsh truth is that vampires have blended with our society almost perfectly - they no longer roam cemeteries at night, no, instead these creatures lurk in dark alleys, choose their victims at dance clubs and sit in the corners of your favorite ice cream parlor.(Basically, Aomine is the old vampire who ends up babysitting Kagami's newborn vampire ass.)





	1. Devour

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! As always, I'm gonna warn you - English isn't my mother tongue, so there might be some grammar issues, sorry for that. The idea was resting int he depths of my notebook for way too long, so I finally decided to put it here. Somehow, I'm fucking late for the AoKaga month :/
> 
> Anyway, hope you'll enjoy the fic! Have a nice day! :)

>   _It is believed that the original myths were spread by the vampires themselves in an ill-minded attempt to gain edge over their victims and instill fear into hearts of the human population. In the light of this declaration, I want you, dear reader, to discard of all these myths immediately. Garlic, counting seeds, abhorrence to sunlight - just about everything you know is useless when facing an actual, hunting vampire. The harsh truth is that vampires have blended with our society almost perfectly - they no longer roam cemeteries at night, no, instead these creatures lurk in dark alleys, choose their victims at dance clubs and sit in the corners of your favorite ice cream parlor._
> 
> _\- Imayoshi Shouichi, The Bloody Cult, p. 10_

 

 

  There was only one good thing about rainy days - the lack of sunshine.

  See, the absence of sun was something miraculous. It meant they could roam the streets freely! There were no annoying sun rays to irritate their skin, no awkward scratching, no need to squint all the time. All they had to do was grab an umbrella to block out the downpour and voilà, they were good to go grab a mid-day snack!

  Rain was wonderful.

  The café was rather small and also oddly quiet, not exactly fitting into the booming mess of noises that was Tokyo. Clean lines, wooden furniture, soft colors - it felt peaceful. Daiki craved that peace, the stillness. Perhaps he was too old to be fascinated by the city’s hustle or maybe it was just the way he was, deep inside his core, he didn’t know. Life moved in a groove and he moved with it, too lazy to search for a different course.

  He napped, he fed and then made sure Tetsu fed, too. Somewhere over the course of last thirty years, his little friend came to conclusion that he had no right to live off another being’s blood and refused to hunt. He almost starved himself to death. The whole thing ended with Daiki hunting for them both and catching the blood into plastic bottles which was just gross, ugh. Dark times, seriously, not to mention that hunting for two healthy vampires was pretty time-consuming. They would definitely perish if it weren’t for Akashi and his connections. Since then, they were supplied with generous amounts of packed medical blood. Daiki didn’t complain. Packed blood might not be as yummy as fresh one, but it allowed him to laze around for days and that was always win.

  “I saw the weather forecast,” Satsuki sipped from her tall glass of latté, expression of pure bliss plastered all over her face. Human food might not sate their hunger, but it still tasted damn great. Who could blame them? “Tomorrow’s gonna be sunny again.”

  “Seriously?” He groaned. “Fuck sun! When’s the next rainy season?”

  The look she gave him then basically screamed _idiot_. “Next year, Dai-chan.”

  “Huh? Really?!” Why couldn’t they have nice things? There were too many kinds of daytime human stuff he hadn’t tried out yet and waiting until winter was annoying as hell.

  Sitting at cafés and ogling humans was one of their favorite rainy-day rituals. After all, they had to keep up with them, right? It was a matter of adaptation! Adaptation meant advantage on hunts, so they were technically improving their hunting abilities here, Akashi’s reactionary opinions be damned. The coffee and cake were just bonus.

  Daiki stuffed his mouth full of the chocolate goodness, barely suppressing a pleasured moan. This place had the best cakes in the world, seriously. Of course they weren’t the only ones attracted by them.

  “Oi, Mine-chin, Sa-chin!”

  Daiki fought the urge to roll his eyes. One of the key aspects to adaptation was to keep a low profile which was pretty damn impossible with nearly seven feet tall purple giant towering over their table. Murasakibara was like an attention magnet. At least, he didn’t flaunt himself the way Kise did. His newest toy was glued to his side – a soft-spoken human male, quite a looker, with silky raven hair and porcelain complexion littered with half-healed bite wounds. The waitress shot them a dark look. She must've thought they were some group of high school delinquents skipping their lessons or whatever.

  “Mukkun! Himuro-kun!” Satsuki beamed at the duo of intruders, “you want to sit with us? Dai-chan, move your stuff!”

  This time, Daiki really made a face, but he complied. Murasakibara plopped down on the emptied chair, motioning to his boy-toy to also take a seat and Satsuki wasted no time – she started interrogating Murasakibara about the leather ball they brought. The giant stopped stuffing his face with shortcake and mumbled something about Muro-chin teaching him how to play basketball.

  Now, that caught Daiki’s attention. “Basketball, huh?”

  He stumbled over the sport like twenty years ago – he remembered that fateful night as clear as a day, because Tetsu had just moved out, making him into the sole occupant of their apartment. He was sprawled in front of the TV, flipping through channels aimlessly. When his eyes landed on a group of gaijin men throwing a ball through a metal ring, he wasn’t that impressed, but hey, they looked so happy and focused that the game just had to be a good thing. That night, Daiki made a mental vow to try out the crazy hoop game one day. He did and it was all fun and great, but only for few days. Then, he mastered it. He couldn’t possibly play against humans and none of his packmates indulged in human sports as far as he knew, so..

  “You can play?” Daiki pried, the tone of his voice perhaps a little too cheerful. No, definitely too cheerful. The pretty boy twitched, his only visible eye jumped from Murasakibara’s face to Daiki’s chin, but not an inch higher. He nodded.

  “Murochin is the best,” hummed the giant. It seemed he grew rather fond of his newest companion. The boy obviously disagreed with the statement since he hushed Murasakibara with a quick: “Atsushi! That’s not true!”

  If one really concentrated, he could point out a whole list of things that were off about the strange relationship the two males shared. Daiki, being the lazy guy he was, noticed exactly two. First, Murasakibara was naturally indifferent to everything that wasn’t food, yet when it came to this human he seemed awfully affectionate. Not handsy, cheesy stuff, but still affectionate in his own way, kinda like a cat. Second and twice as alarming was the ease with which the boy-toy commanded the purple giant around, as if he were only a child and not a hundred years old monster. The most shocking part was that Murasakibara listened. He who threatened to crush everyone around with the only exception being Akashi actually let a human man wipe a cream from the corners of his mouth and let himself being lectured. Just wow.

  Satsuki’s face mirrored Daiki’s thoughts. She stole a glance at the strange pair before turning her attention back towards her latté, downing the rest in one go. Daiki snickered at the foam mustache above her upper lip.

  “So,” she lifted one fine brow at him. Oh shit. Bad things were coming. “You’ll go to Ki-chan’s party with us, won’t you?”

  Yeah, bad things indeed.

  Daiki scowled at her. “No.”

  “Why, Dai-chan?! Even Mukkun goes!” Satsuki whined. Somewhere to his left, Murasakibara hummed around the spoon in his mouth: “Yeah, Muro-chin says it will be fun. Besides, Kise-chin said there will be snacks.”

  As if that was supposed to change his mind.

  Every year around the middle of June, Kise Ryouta – another member of their so-called pack – threw a lavish birthday party. Daiki didn’t get the whole celebrating thing, really. They were so old it wasn’t even funny anymore, but of course, Kise had always been a show-off. How many candles would he have to put on the cake, huh? Two hundred?! Two hundred and fifty? He was older than Daiki, that was for sure. Still, eternity suited him. Unlike Tetsu, Kise had no regrets when it came to hunting. The world was more or less his playground.

  Time passed and the streets outside slowly dressed in the orange glow of lamps and colorful neon lights. The night was nearing on them, Daiki could basically smell it, taste it on the tip of his tongue. He was sure they could all feel it, with the exception of Murasakibara’s boy-toy, of course.

  The night held a special meaning to them. Once the daylight vanished, the world would turn upside down, or perhaps it was finally the right way, he didn’t know, but as soon as he stepped out of the café and took in the first, deep breath of the still warm air, everything felt just right.

  There were times when he would sprint through the darkened streets carelessly, feeling the same uplifting amount of freedom that perhaps a child feels when it rides a carousel. The night welcomed him, hugged him, cuddled him against its chest until he felt like the most beloved son and Daiki relished in the feeling - the unlimited freedom at hand, the wind toying with his hair, cold and soothing and so different from the scorching heat that bubbled under his skin, the heat of a fresh kill in his cold, oh so cold veins. It was intoxicating.

  The night was their mother and she was a generous one, he had to give her that much, yet also strict. Those who turned their backs on her, those who grew soft and refused to eat their share, they all perished while the good, well-fed children prospered and grew stronger. Daiki didn’t mourn them. He didn’t understand all those moralists - you can call him selfish, but if he had to choose between his own survival and someone else’s death, he’d always pick himself above all.

  Yet, even the most magical things turn mundane when repeated every single day.

  Now with Tetsu gone, he lost the need to go out just for fun. Night was no fun when he had no one to share the thrill with.

  Sometimes, a hand would sneak its fingers around his heart - cold, long fingers of dread with caked blood still behind its fingernails - forcing him to lie down on his back, unmoving, while the voice from above whispered tales of guilt and death. It was as if he were back at the tea house, resting after a long session. His body felt oddly worn out, even though it hadn't aged a day from the moment he died - or perhaps it was his soul that was worn out, overused and stretched thin.

  One hundred and fifty seven years.

  That's three lifetimes. And thousands more stolen from those he drained or torn apart or left to bleed out on the city streets. He didn't deserve three lifetimes. Hell, he didn't deserve even one.

  That’s probably why he slept so much. No vampire slept longer hours than Daiki - he often found himself sleeping through days and nights alike, opting for the dreams rather than the tiring reality. Sleep was an escape route and his apartment was its sanctuary, a place of peace and normalcy. A spotless island in the sea of blood.

 

* * *

 

  When was the last time you were hungry? No, not just the rumbling in your stomach, but a real-deal feral hunger that makes you grit your teeth and clench your fists in weak attempts to hold onto your sanity. The kind of hunger that makes the very core of your being shiver, that kind that makes you think you are running a fever while your chest feels like a block of ice.

  There were times when Daiki thought he would faint from the emptiness. He craved. He craved and fed and craved even more, as if the blood wasn’t enough anymore. On nights like that, he felt really monstrous. Daiki had never been a messy eater – quite the opposite, actually – but once this strange kind of hunger got a grip on him, he couldn’t help himself. Skin, pieces of flesh, sinews. It all went down his throat along with gallons of warm blood, setting his insides on fire.

  The thing is, their bodies couldn’t process anything else than blood once they awoke from the transformation coma. Human food, just like human flesh, caused him only waves of nausea and vicious cramps. Eventually, he would double over either in some dark alley or on the tiled floor of his bathroom and he’d throw it all up. His stomach rejected the cake and coffee shortly after he stumbled home that night. Daiki stayed like that for hours, kneeling on the bathroom floor with forehead resting against the cold porcelain toilette, contemplating whether setting himself on fire wasn't actually the better idea.

  Finally.

  A content sight escaped his lips as soon as his face hit the pillow. He wallowed in the softness of the linens, rolled around just for the sheer joy of the sensation, refusing to drift away in the middle of night even when the call of sleep was so damn alluring. No, he had to be strong! Falling asleep right now, minutes after midnight, would end up with him waking up at noon when the sun was at its brightest. That would mean one bitch of a headache even with the curtains shut. On the other hand, there was still the possibility of another rainy day - if it rained and he happened to be awake, then maybe he could go inspect some more human food - but would he really risk it?

  He still hadn’t tried those burger things which Kise loved so much. Fuck cramps.

  Yeah, he’ll just doze off and hope for the rain.

  As the tips of his fingers brushed over the satin pillow, Daiki could feel the familiar grin splitting his face in half. He had always loved soft things, even more since he's been turned. It was almost two centuries and he would still grin like a child every time he fell into a big, soft bed. To be fair, he could pass for an older child if he tried - teenager they called it these days, crazy humans - after all, he was barely sixteen when Shirogane walked into the tea house and sunk his teeth into Daiki's neck.

  The thought of the old vampire had always made his blood boil. He hated him from the very core of his being, with his whole dead, unbeating heart and every cell of his fucking cold body. Maybe even more. Back at his time, kagemas often had a short lifespan thanks to various diseases and of course, the booming vampire activity in the streets of Japan's capital. He couldn’t remember any of the stories now. Back then, he thought the whole vampire thing was just some stupid rumor, heck, he probably laughed at the idea.

  It wasn’t so funny anymore.

  The following day was incredibly sunny.

  Daiki woke up late in the afternoon. Light was seeping through his half-closed curtains, making him hiss and sink further under the covers. Fucking sun! Where was a rain when he needed it?! Seriously though, one of these nights he was going to pack his shit and move to fucking Columbia, then he might enjoy rain for the rest of eternity.

  He stayed hidden in the bed until he felt the sun rays creep away and even after, fingers idly tracing the pattern of his bed sheets until the room cooled off enough for him to get up and start functioning.

  He hunted, then washed the blood of his clothes and ended up lazing on the couch, staring at the TV mindlessly. It was a routine Daiki developed over the years of living alone. It used to be different with Tetsu around. More life-like. He kinda missed that, the constant presence of someone, the bloody glasses that miraculously washed themselves and the soft, almost inaudible: “Aomine-kun, please don’t put your feet on the coffee table.” Tetsu could be one hell of a pain in the ass with his constant bloody pacifism and moral drama, but once he moved out, well, Daiki missed all of him.

  It’s said that vampire suicide rates are twice as high as human. Sometimes, he thought he understood why.

  Now don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t entirely happy with having Tetsu around either – the little sad man served as a constant reminder of his own monstrosity, of his own mistakes. He cornered him in some alleyway. It was almost hundred years ago and it still haunted him, the smooth face twisted in terror as his fangs sunk into the boy’s throat. Screams rattled in his ears. He remembered how Tetsu tried to fight him off, his bony fists raining against Daiki’s temples, but it was no use. Slowly, they both sunk onto the ground. Blood flowed, it was warm and intoxicating, making him cling to the small form in his arms and suck onto the wound even harder, desperate to milk him dry.

  He had no clue when Tetsu stopped fighting him. The boy was almost dead when Daiki came back to his senses. They were tangled together in a heap of cold limbs, their blood-soaked clothes sticking together. He remembered how his face itched, irritated as Tetsu’s blood slowly dried on his skin. Wide, pale eyes were staring at him, knowing. Accusing. _What have you done? Who gave you the right?!_

  That night, something in Daiki’s brain must’ve short-circuited. Maybe it was caused by the moon or perhaps it was the look in Tetsu’s eyes, he wasn’t sure. Seconds later he was biting the inside of his own wrist and forcing it between the boy’s cooling lips. Back then, he didn't realize what mistake he just made.

  So, their pack gained a new member. An unwanted one, that was for sure - Akashi almost killed him the first time they met. Daiki managed to stop him, but it was close, so close that if he moved only a second later, the redhead would probably tear Tetsu's head off. He couldn't let that happen, fuck no, Daiki would rather take on the whole pack than watch them kill the boy, so eventually, after long minutes of snarling and threatening, they made a deal. The pack accepted Tetsu as one of their own, but if Daiki were to slip like that again, they would show no mercy.

  Years later, he thought he understood Akashi's logic - sentencing someone to lifetime of misery was far too cruel and he had no right to force it upon anyone else beside himself.

  As the time passed, Tetsu became quite popular among the pack. He brought fresh breeze into their stale lives, especially into Daiki's. Nights no longer served only for feeding, no, with Tetsu around he could actually share the hidden treasures of their second life and explore many more. There were billions of things he hadn't tried yet, things that tasted far better with somebody by his side. Life was good. Even Akashi eventually admitted that he grew fond of the blue haired boy and since then, well, Devil forbid someone dared to lay a finger on the precious Tetsu. They'd have the whole pack on his throat in no time, literally.

  Kise inviting him to his little birthday party was only natural. The kid was even kind enough to bring a gift - some skin creme since the old idiot absolutely dreaded looking old, even though he was by far the eldest among the group.

  "Are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Tetsu asked him few days later, nimble fingers toying with the straw in his glass. "Kise-kun would surely appreciate it if you showed up."

  "Nah, I have a program of my own," Daiki lied through his teeth, eyes sliding away from that questioning gaze.

  They were sitting in his living room, doing nothing besides savoring each other's presence. Daiki had his feet on the coffee table again. Every time the other complained he would wiggle his toes at him and offer him to join in because "you know, it's comfy as fuck." Tetsu would only shake his head, maybe even sigh. It was nice. Kinda like the old times.

  Once Tetsu decided he had enough of his attention, he placed the half-empty glass next to Daiki's feet. "It was nice to see you, Aomine-kun. I will tell Kise-kun you said happy birthday."

  "Hey! I never said that!"

  “You should.”

  Besides that little jab, Kuroko didn't try to persuade him anymore. Daiki walked him out and watched as he put on a jacket as if the night outside wasn't borderline tropic, wondering whether the other even felt such sensations. Probably not. The small frail body was cold, eternally cold and it was all his fault. He wanted to apologize. Every time Tetsu's smooth icy skin brushed against his own, he ached to apologize, the words clawing their way up his throat, but Daiki swallowed them again and put on the widest of smiles. "Have fun."

  The jacket clung to Tetsu's shoulders. "I will. If you change your mind, please come to the old firehouse."

  Firehouse? He frowned. "That’s dumb. I told you I have a progra-"

  As always, Tetsu made nothing of his harsh voice. He never had. "I understand. Take care, Aomine-kun," and just like that, he was gone. Daiki stood there for a while, staring at the closed doors, contemplating. Could he really stomach Kise's company for the whole night? He wasn't sure. The blonde never shut up and he was annoying as hell with all that fake cuteness overload, but Daiki was bored and even kinda.. lonely?

  No, he decided then, he didn't feel like listening to Kise's babbling and besides, he was already used to the loneliness. He'd like to think he didn't mind it anymore. After so many years, he shouldn’t even notice.

  Eventually, he solved it with sleep, since sleep is the closest to death vampire can get for the second time.

 

* * *

 

 

_Crash._

  "Huh? What the-"

  Daiki swore that if he hadn't been dead for hundred years, he'd totally have a heart attack. Shit! He could almost feel it beating again! "Fuck!" Yeah. That pretty much summed it up.

  His ears could pick up basically anything, so once he heard the door into his apartment creep open, then the squeaking of floorboards followed by a heavy thud, well, he was out of bed in no time. Fucking robbers chose the wrong apartment this time! On the other hand, a midnight snack never hurt anyone, he snickered as he untangled himself from the sheets, ready to welcome the intruders into their worst nightmare.

  But there were no robbers.

  Daiki almost tripped over his own feet once the image attacked his eyes. To say it was a surprise would be an understatement of the century. “What the fuck?!”

  There, right in the middle of his living room, stood Kuroko fucking Tetsuya covered in blood basically from head to toe, dragging something that could pass for a fucking kebab - all while sporting his usual doe-eyed look. Surreal.

  "Tetsu?!"

  The carcass on his floor made a low, gurgling noise, followed by a loud wheeze as if it were still trying to breathe, even with obviously crushed rib cage and half of its throat missing. It was a sickening sight, really. There were far more holes than necessary and the whole body - oh yeah, it used to be a human body and probably a well-built one, judging by the impressive width of its shoulders - was coated in dried blood and ashes. Idiots! Litres of good blood were wasted, not to mention that it stank. Daiki covered his nose with the back of his palm and swiftly knelt down to the carcass, inspecting the heap of tendered meat.

  "What the fuck, Tetsu?!"

  So much unnecessary damage.

  “I’m sorry, Aomine-kun-”

  Daiki glanced at the sobbing boy. He thought better of him. Tetsu had always been a good, gentle kid, sipping on his blood pack with a pastel straw like it was a damn milkshake. He wasn't a murderer, for fuck's sake! There was no way he could maul someone so bad, even with Kise and Murasakibara as a backup. “Please, help me, Aomine-kun-“

  Hunger was a strong thing. Daiki himself knew that better than anyone. He had no right to judge.

  “Okay, okay,” he nodded, “just calm down.”

  There was no way to tell the full scale of the damage done onto the human. If he were Akashi, it would take one glance with that freaky eye of his to tell whether the human had any chance or not, but Daiki could do no such thing. They might share the same thirst, but he was entirely different kind of a monster. All he could do was guess. "I don't think he's gonna make it. You should finish him."

  He got up to face the younger vampire, mouth open and ready to inquire information, but a sudden spur of motion caught his eye.

  The carcass twitched. Violently. It wasn't the usual post mortem spasm, no, the whole thing was off. It was a carcass, right? For something supposedly mauled by three or more bored vampires, the heap seemed way too active. With missing tissue and massive blood loss like that, it should've been dead minutes ago.

  "You have to help me, Aomine-kun," Tetsu demanded in that emotionless voice of his and Daiki wanted to laugh. Tetsu demanded help. From him, from the monster that made him into what he was now - an undying boy covered from head to toe in dried blood, wild eyes shining through the darkened apartment like a pair of stars - Tetsu demanded help from him? "You want me to do your dirty work?" What was he supposed to do, anyway? He could just snap its neck, so the carcass wouldn't suffer anymore which would surely be a great idea, but there was hardly a thing to be snapped. "Maybe you should've gone to Akashi's."

  Akashi Seijuuro snapped necks like no one else. Mortal, immortal, dead, undead, whatever. To him, life didn't cost a second glace, but that's the way with the older ones and someone like Daiki hadn't had the capacity to understand their twisted sense of logic. Truth to be told, he was seriously freaked out when Akashi showed interest in Tetsu. The guy had a certain reputation - you don't become the leader because you're good at baking cupcakes, right? - while Tetsu was kind of.. well, Tetsu was Tetsu. Daiki will forever regret turning him into this.

  Right. He turned Tetsu. He took responsibility for the younger one's actions the moment he chose to share blood with him. The carcass was his problem just as much as it was Tetsu's, if not more.

  "Alright," he sighed, "you wanna bury it somewhere special?"

  He had never heard a sound like that coming from the little man. “No!” Tetsu was in his face, snarling, pushing him away from the gurgling heap of human remnants. “He’s alive! Don’t you understand, Aomine-kun?! We can’t kill him! I-I gave him-”

  The sobs got louder, but Daiki hardly registered them. All he could think of was Tetsu’s pale, trembling mouth as it formed those dreaded words, whispered them into the silence of the apartment.

  “I couldn’t just let him die.”

  So the cycle repeated itself.

  “You have to understand, please-“

  The worst part was that Daiki understood. The boy just made the same mistake he did all those years ago – he got soft and his remorse ultimately drew another being into suffering.

  “..I-I tried, but he’s not really healing..”

  It wasn’t easy to be harsh on Tetsu, especially with him being in the state he was now, but Daiki had to. He shot another look to the twitching carcass – twitching vampire carcass – and took a deep breath. It was a bad habit of his, breathing. His nose immediately filled with the foul smell, but he felt like he needed that, the foulness if he was about to repeat to Tetsu what Akashi once told him.

  “Help him,” pleaded the smaller boy, fists clenching in the fabric of his own blood-soaked shirt, “please, Aomine-kun, help him.”

  There was a trail of blood covering his floorboards where Tetsu dragged the body, ending with the heap of flesh lying by his feet.

  He couldn't do it.

  “You know he won’t make it.” By this point, Daiki wasn’t sure whether he reasoned with Tetsu or with himself. He shouldn’t be even considering it! Even if the carcass miraculously survived transformation, Akashi would rip it apart as soon as he found out. Or perhaps he wouldn’t. He had soft spot for Tetsu, after all.

  They were all weak when it came to those big blue eyes. 

  “Alright," he heard himself sigh, "but don't try to cry on my shoulder if he dies."

 


	2. Descend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for the feedback, it's always welcomed and appreciated! :)

> _A victim who survives the transformation coma will awaken as a fully fleshed vampire. This phase is the last and also the least crucial in the whole transformation process since the victim's body proved to be strong enough to survive the changes happening to their organism and is no longer trapped in the vulnerable state of the blood coma. Within twenty four hours from its awakening, the victim starts to hunt. The first targets are usually pets, neighbor children, unlucky friends and even family members if needed be. The victim’s senses, as well as physical abilities, are also heightened to maximum. It is believed that hearing range is tripled while smell is up to tenfold.  
>  _
> 
> _\- Imayoshi Shouchi, The Bloody Cult, p. 25_

 

 

 

  The moon was full, at least he thought so. It might as well just be growing or doing whatever the moon did at that time and Daiki would be none the wiser since its better half was hidden behind some clouds, shielded from his prying eyes. When he came to think of it, the clouds were looking rather furious, as if a storm was rolling their way.

  Still, the night was incredibly bright, as bright as a day. He'd never seen anything like that in his life. Maybe it was caused by the massive blood loss or the fact that he was dying, he didn't know, but the moon was mesmerizing and he couldn't tear his gaze away. His eyes remained locked onto the moon, drinking in the silver ring of light even as his vision distorted, even when his eyelids started sliding shut. So, Aomine Daiki died. Alone and scared, bleeding all over the tea house floor, one hand blindly reaching towards the open window.

  Back then, he had no idea that he just started slipping into the blood coma. Had he known, perhaps he wouldn't be so panicked once his muscles refused to move. His whole body felt just as cold and heavy as if he were a block of marble and it only proceeded to grow even heavier, to the point where the simplest task of breathing felt like an inhuman feat. Had he known, he'd pay more attention to the buzzing in his ears and the way his freezing body seemed to be burning from the inside. He'd celebrate the itch that came with his tissues knitting back together.

  But he knew none of that.

  Daiki wondered whether the guy felt just as he did all those years ago - a living mind trapped in a dead body, aware yet unable of any action. He crossed and uncrossed his legs, fingers still cradling through the red hair. It was stuck together thanks to mixture of blood and ashes, glued to the guy’s forehead. Daiki crumbled some of the gross stuff off, but it was no use. Once they were done here, all of them deserved a long, hot bath, followed by days of sleep.

  First, they got rid of the tattered clothing. Neither of them wanted to risk it growing together with the skin once the body started regenerating, so they grabbed the closest pair of scissors and cut through cotton and denim alike.  After that, there was no doubt they were dealing with a man. It was more than obvious, really, Daiki might have even whistled or made another, equally surprised noise. Tetsu only rolled his eyes, then accused him of insisting on this simply because he was a pervert. “Wha-?! No!” It was the right thing to do! Tearing pieces of fabric away once they merged with the skin would be monumentally gross. Tetsu should be happy Daiki realized so soon!

  They tried to find his wallet, but all of his pockets were empty.

  It took litres of blood before the body began to heal - Tetsu’s blood, of course, Daiki had no right to intervene with this, even though it was obviously hard on the smaller guy. They took turns pressing onto various wounds, trying to stop the fresh blood from flowing out, sometimes fruitlessly. The whole process would then repeat itself so many times Daiki eventually lost count. It was excruciating.

  Still, it paid off. They won.

  Once the healing mechanism kicked in, Tetsu excused himself and left. At first, Daiki protested. Why the hell should he clean this mess all by himself, huh?! It wasn’t even his kill! “Seriously, Tetsu, this is your shit, you can’t just leave!”

  As always, Tetsu’s face showed no emotion. “Aomine-kun, I have to-”

  “No, you fucking don’t!”

  He changed his mind shortly after. No one really knows how long does it take for a body to change, especially one battered so bad. The transformation length varied. Tetsu could hardly spend days at his place without Akashi noticing and the later the redhead found out about this whole thing, the better.

  "Fine, okay, ugh. Go, then!"

  So, they were left alone.

  It was only him and the carcass, chilling on the cool floor, bathing in the murky morning light while fat raindrops drummed against the windows. One could say it was a bonding moment, well, that is if you can actually bond with a piece of faceless, tendered meat.

  Turns out Daiki could. He sat with Tetsu through his blood coma, told him about the bright nights, vibrant colors and all the beautiful things that escaped the eyes of those still living. He'll do the same for this one. Daylight seeped into the room, followed by dusk and another starless night, yet he didn't leave the flat, didn't go on hunt. It was already dark when he realized he missed perfectly fine rainy day, but in the end, he didn’t even care.

  Daiki died alone. He changed alone. He woke up all alone. Loneliness was the worst part of eternity. It didn't matter that they were strangers - no one deserved to go through this alone. “You owe me a big one,” he informed the sack of meat, “and I know you can hear me, so don’t try to fuck me over once you’re awake.”

  Slowly but surely, the unrecognizable piece of carcass changed. Broken bones healed in front of his eyes, missing muscles regrew, sewed together by veins and tendons while he rubbed soothing little circles onto the other's cold temples.

  The guy was going to make it, after all. Daiki sensed it, deep in the pit of his empty stomach, that this one was a fighter. He stopped wheezing long time ago, his chest no longer raising nor falling. Daiki's was, but again, he was breathing more out of habit. Humans had this annoying ability of noticing when someone didn’t breathe. They would start screaming and running away which meant he had to chase them and man, Daiki loathed chasing after food.

  The guy could be in his mid-twenties. He was muscled, with broad chest and long limbs, probably in the top shape. He could be as tall as Daiki, maybe, there was no telling now - the vampire might be bored out of his mind, but he didn’t feel like rolling around on the floor just to find out who was the taller one here. It didn’t matter, anyway.

  Once he was sure there was skin covering all of the deeper wounds, Daiki threw Tetsu’s old blanket over the guy. Vampires are sensory creatures. If he were right, then the familiar smell would calm the guy down at least a little bit.

  The tissues on his face were the last to knit together. Better half of the guy’s mouth was still gone as well as the meaty part of his left cheek, allowing Daiki to actually see his canines growing, sharpening. The whole spectacle was weirdly entertaining. Layer after layer of enamel appeared literally out of nowhere and slowly molded itself into a pair of perfect, razor-sharp fangs. He found himself so engrosses in the show that he almost missed what happened next.

  It was half past eleven when the pale eyelids snapped open.

  His eyes were the color of fresh blood, a pair of mesmerizing rubies, vivid and burning with the hunger that started licking at his insides. The fierce gaze locked with Daiki’s the very next second. It was a good thing he was sitting since the force behind that stare would probably knock him on his ass.

  Groan. The corner of the guy’s left eye twitched wildly.

  "Huh?! Don't gimme that look, it's not my fault," he growled even though it was his fault as much as Tetsu's or Kise's, maybe even more. "I'm not hyped about babysitting your ass, you know?"

  It was a good thing the guy couldn't talk yet. Daiki could see the incomplete jaw muscles twitching as he tried to force it to comply, but it was still too soon. The only sound that came out was another groan, this time kinda choked.

  “Yeah, you can’t move. That’s normal. It will come back in..,” here, he paused. It will come back, right? If he remembered well, both him and Tetsu woke up fully functioning. Then again, neither him nor Tetsu were messed up so bad. “Uh, it will come back.” The guy attempted to frown.

  Maybe they could speed up this whole thing a bit, if he fed a bit more..

  Daiki brushed a stray strand of hair out of his eyes, thumbs ghosting over the other's forehead for the last time before he stood up and made his way towards the fridge. “Don’t go anywhere!”

  It takes time to really recover from the transformation coma. Now he wasn't any pro when it came to these things - the only experience he had was his own and then Tetsu's - but once you start gaining control over your body again, that's the moment when the hunger kicks in. It's unbearable, really, fucks with your mind and stomps on your morals until they're nothing but dust. You don't think, you only devour. Friends, old people, children, it doesn't really matter - hunger doesn't discriminate. It's a rampage. Regrets are nonexistent. Death is nothing but a game at that point.

  However, once the thrum of blood in your ears dissipates and you remember, you realize what have you just done, that's the end. Half of those who survive the blood coma kill themselves within the first days of clarity.

  Maybe if he managed to keep the guy inside, if he could stop him from mauling anyone he loved, then the man wouldn’t hate himself as much as he did. Yes, Daiki set his mind, that might work. He might at least partially spare him from the suffering.

  Pale yellowish light illuminated the kitchen, making him squint. "So, do you have any preferences?" Daiki shouted as he stuck his face into the fridge. Sure, there was no chance he'd get an actual reply, but detail like that couldn't stop him, could it?

  The fridge was empty, aside from about twenty various blood packs. Daiki often wondered whether Akashi realized he didn’t need to be fed anymore. Tetsu might be long gone, but the blood packs still kept on pilling in his mailbox and who was he to turn down free food, huh? "I drank the last O, but there's plenty of A," he went on, rummaging through the various packs, "what about B? B's cool. AB?" Eventually, he took few of everything. It's not like the guy could be picky at this point, anyway.

  When he slumped back onto the wooden floorboards, the guy was still unmoving. Now that little detail might make this feeding experiment a bit harder. “Okay, so, how we gonna do this?” He could just tear the blood pack open and pour it down the other’s throat, but Daiki had zero idea if the guy could swallow anything, plus, what if he managed to drown him or something? Could vampires even drown? Daiki didn’t know, but he sure as hell didn’t want to be known as the first person in history to drown a vampire.

  Eventually, he hauled the guy up onto the couch and tossed the blanket into his lap, making a mental note to get him some clothes as soon as possible.

  It was like handling a rug doll. Without any actual support, the other’s head lolled to his side. Second later, the whole body began to slide that way. “Fuck!” Alright, that wouldn’t work. Daiki grabbed onto the guy’s biceps, pulling him back up, then rearranging his whole posture. He could feel the ruby eyes on him all the time, following his every move.

  “Look, I’m gonna try to feed you, since Tetsu’s not here and you probably won’t do it yourself.” He showed one of the blood packs into the other’s face, eliciting a whining noise from the paralyzed man. “Try to swallow.”

  Everything would be easier if the guy had his face intact. This way, Daiki had to pry his jaws open by force which was actually pretty gross, considering that his fingers dug into the freshly-healed, skinless muscles. He could feel them straining under his touch, fighting him. More of those high-pitched noises cut through the living room, reminding him that the lifeless body in his hands was conscious in the first place and very much aware of what was going to happen. He was probably hurting the man, but then again, it was nothing in compare to what the guy had been through in the last few days, so Daiki didn’t bother with unnecessary gentleness. When thinking about this moment few weeks later, he realized that had he been gentler or at least more careful, things might be totally different.

  That night, he was only rushed. “Calm do-“

  He was just about to start pouring the blood when the jaws clamped shut.

  When he was later asked about the incident, Daiki couldn’t recall what exactly happened. One moment, he was tipping the blood pack to the guy’s bare teeth, hoping against his better judgement that he wouldn’t accidentally kill him and the very next millisecond, the tips of his fingers were being crushed. He tore them out of the death grip in no time, yet the wounds were already bleeding.

  “Fuck!”

  He should’ve foreseen it. Sticking your hand into vampire’s mouth was a shitty idea to begin with, more so when the said vampire wasn’t in their right mind. Daiki shouldn’t blame the man, still, he did just that. “You fucking bastard!” His fingers were throbbing in pain as more of the precious blood flowed from the wounds. Daiki stuck them in between his lips and prayed they would heal quickly, ignoring all the pleasured sounds coming from the not-so-paralyzed bastard. The ruby eyes twinkled with mirth. Pink tongue darted out and Daiki watched in mild horror as it swept over the blood-stained teeth.

  Oh, so he wanted to be asshole?! Fine, they should stake out some rules then.

  “If you bite me again, I swear I’ll tear your dick off. Understood?!” He snarled into the other’s still blissed out face. The blood pack was long forgotten at that point, spilling its contents over the floorboards, slowly reaching to his toes. For some unfathomable reason, Daiki felt like the guy didn’t give a shit about his threats.

 

* * *

 

  From then, things picked up on speed.

  Daiki didn't try to feed the man anymore. The asshole didn't deserve his kindness - hunger makes you do terrible things, but there was a certain line which should never be crossed - so he called it quits and fell face-first into his bed, his little heart once again overjoyed by the softness that was smothering him.

  He wasn't quite sure how much time had passed before he woke up, but the sky was still dark and the air that seeped in through the open windows smelled like wet asphalt. For the second time in two nights - or was it three? He wasn't sure anymore - he was awaken by someone creeping around his home. It was kinda irritating. Tetsu had never been so noisy, actually, Daiki used to have problem even noticing the little guy most of the times, so how could he-

  Wait. Sure! He was such an idiot!

  If the asshole managed to vanish meanwhile he slept, then he was in for a hell of a night!

  Black spots danced in front of his eyes as he jumped out of the bed. Fuck, when was the last time he ate something?! Oh, whatever. Swearing loudly, Daiki scrambled into the living room or rather what was left of it-

  It was a disaster. Seriously. How come the ruckus didn't wake him up sooner?! The coffee table was as good as gone with its glass top totally shattered. Daiki still hadn't washed the initial blood smear from when Tetsu dragged the body in, but that hardly mattered now since the whole floor was basically one big stain. There, in the mess of blood, shards and empty plastic bags, knelt the redheaded man. His arms were stretched in front of him, he was probably trying to grasp on the couch's armrest and pull himself up, but his legs were still pretty much useless and eventually he ended up slipping back on the floor, jamming more of the tiny shards into his naked form.

  "What the fuck?" Daiki heard himself shout once again. He had the feeling that it was slowly becoming his catchphrase and it was all thanks to this asshole! And Tetsu, he couldn't forget about Tetsu! The little guy was not getting out of this, as much as he obviously tried to.

  "That's my line!" Howled the man. Daiki was momentarily distracted by the sound of his voice - he somehow guessed it would be deeper than that, more gruff. Well, he guessed wrong. The redhead's voice rose higher as he shouted: "What's going on? Where am I and who the fuck are you?! And why can't I move my legs?" Questions continued to pour out of his mouth, but Daiki didn't listen. His attention was stolen once again, this time by the pair of sharp, pearly-white fangs protruding between the guy's lips. The ruby eyes shone too, reflected the orange lamplight seeping in through the crack between the curtains. There was something feral in those eyes, currently resting, waiting for the right moment to snap at another clueless set of fingers.

  The man tried to pull himself up again, just as fruitlessly as the last time.

  It didn't make sense. He should be alright by now. Daiki counted twelve - twelve was the number of blood packs he carried here earlier, a whole armful. One got spilled which left eleven for the guy to drink. Sure, most of the blood probably ended up on the floor or on his chin, yet still, it was pretty damn good number to begin with, so why wasn’t he moving? What the hell was wrong with this guy?! Did they fuck up somewhere? Daiki was tempted to just call Tetsu and tell him to get his bony ass back there when the guy opened his mouth again.

  “Stop staring and help me up!” He growled as if it was Daiki’s fault that he couldn’t get up. Oh, there was no doubt this one was going to be an asshole! Anyway, Daiki did lend him a hand. Together, they hauled the tall form up onto the couch again. “So?! Who the fuck are you and what does this all mean?!”

  It wasn’t every day he introduced himself to a new person, well, to anyone who he didn’t plan to drain afterwards. It was kinda weird, given the odds. They were sitting in the remnants of his living room, one of them butt-naked and basically covered in blood while the other tried his hardest not to stare at his fully-healed form too much. Or throw a fit. Where was his boring life again?

  “Aomine Daiki,” he huffed, trying to sound as leisure as possible.

  The guy stared at him for a while, contemplating, one of his funky eyebrows rising to join his hairline. It took a while before he actually spoke up again and Daiki spent the seconds of silence inspecting his regenerated face. The mouth was intact again, as well as the broken nose and missing cheek. There was no scar, no discoloration of any kind, nothing. If they met anywhere else, maybe passed each other while walking down the street, Daiki would actually say it was just another tired, handsome man. There was no trace of the monster hidden beneath.

  “Kagami Taiga,” the man said in the same unamused fashion Daiki did before. His fiery eyes slid over Daiki’s face, then lower, too obvious in their intention. Asshole and a dense one! Now Tetsu really hit the jackpot with this guy! When Kagami extended his hand to offer him a handshake, Daiki ignored it. The fingers on his right were still throbbing faintly, reminding him of who he was dealing with. There was no way he’d step into the same river twice.

  He had to be right. The corners of Kagami’s mouth sank in disappointment before he snarled: “So? What does this all mean?!”

  “What would you guess?” Shaking his head, Daiki got up from the couch. The redhead protested, even made a move as if to grab onto his arm, but he was faster. Firstly, he needed to run Kagami a bath, so he could get dressed. Daiki wouldn’t lie, the fact that the guy’s naked balls touched his furniture irritated him immensely. As he prepared the bath, he repeated everything he told the carcass before, word after word. He told him about vampires – that they were very much real and far from the sparkly, sickly pale Hollywood creeps – told him about the insatiable hunger and blood drinking. Kagami had obviously figured out the last bit on his own, but bit of a time-tested advice couldn’t hurt.

  “So, yeah, if you choose the pack diet then it’s one or two a day. Fresh blood will sate you for longer, usually about three days, but that depends on how much stuff you do. Don’t ask me why, I have no fucking clue.”

  Of course, Kagami showered him with questions. “Do you guys really sleep in coffin? Can you turn into a bat? Man, what about garlic?! Does it mean you can't eat Italian food? And what about the sun?” Rolling his eyes, Daiki answered every single one of them, even the most stupid ones. “No, we don’t. Who do you think I am, fucking Batman?! You can try to pry pizza from my cold, dead hands. Sun is a bitch, seriously. Avoid it. You won’t burn or anything, but you’ll get hives, then start peeling and stuff. It’s gross.”

  Honestly, it was all about the stereotypes. Few hundred years ago, humans decided that vampires all slept in coffins, had no reflection at all and happened to be sporting one hell of a widow’s peak. The last one seriously offended him. Also, if the lack of so-called soul meant one couldn’t reflect in a goddamn mirror, then how come all of the serial killers have reflections? See? It’s nonsense! No piece of tin chloride-coated glass can determine whether one has soul or not.

  There was a moment of silence, disrupted only by the splashing of water against the marble tub. Both shampoo and shower gel were standing on the tub’s rim, so he guessed the guy would just help himself to them. Tetsu always did. Again, vampires were sensory creatures and scents were a big part of their daily life, so even seemingly meaningless things like sharing a shower gel or stealing clothes could make a huge difference.

  “You have more of them?”

  The voice cut clear through the bubbling. Daiki frowned as he turned the water off. “More of what?”

  Another silence, this time far louder. It took a while for Kagami to form the answer and when he eventually did, his voice sounded a bit meeker, almost hesitant. “The blood packs.”

  More blood packs? “Why? You still hungry?” The guy had more blood in the last three days than Daiki drank in the whole week! He couldn’t possibly be hungry, could he?

  “Man, I’m starving! Are you like this all the time?”

  Perhaps it was the transformation, Daiki reasoned with himself. One blood pack had about five hundred millilitres, give or take. There was eleven of them. Kagami could drown from eight to nine whole packs which would push him to four and something litres of blood. That was one almost-drained adult human, in addition to the gallons Tetsu had pumped into him before. Still, he wasn’t fully healed. “No, we’re not usually that hungry.”

  Kagami didn’t react. When Daiki came to help him into the tube, the redhead was just pulling a jagged shard from his side, face twisted in pain. Daiki didn’t want to hurry him or anything, but he’d really like to get into the bed before sunrise, thank you very much. “C’mon, you have to wash.”

  Once he managed to get Kagami’s heavy ass into the bath tub, he fetched him a tall glass of blood. They still had few packs in the fridge, then some more in the freezer because it was a damn summer and who would resist an icy treat? The water turned sickly shade of red as the man continued to soak. Daiki helped him to pull out the glass stuck in his back, but beside that, he chose to hover in the hall. He still didn’t trust the other vampire enough to let his guards down around him - as much as he tried to mask it, the man was still out of it. He looked kinda manic. The hunger was still clawing at his insides, there was no doubt in that.

  The more he drank, the better Kagami felt. His legs started listening to him again and as much as Daiki questioned his appetite, he still ended up pouring him more and more. The dreaded question came with the fifth glass. “Hey, Aomine” he sighed, fingers running through his wet hair, “how the hell could I survive that?”

  Daiki didn’t look forward to this one, not even a bit. “You didn’t,” he said, trying to sound as casual as possible, although he sincerely doubted that something like that could ever sound casual. “You’re dead. Technically.”

  The reaction was far from his expectations, though. “Oh,” was all Kagami said, face sinking, “okay.” He didn’t pry anymore, instead he tipped the glass of red to his lips again and downed it all, then asked for seconds. The whole thing will dawn on him, eventually, once the thrum of hunger in his ears dissipates and his body realizes the sudden coldness, the emptiness of death. It will come. All Daiki hoped for was that he wouldn’t witness the breakdown that followed.

  Eventually, he fed Kagami everything in his fridge and even some of the iced packs.

  Daiki lent him some of his clothes. The redhead was broader than him, bulkier, but it hardly mattered. Honestly, he had enough old baggy t-shirts to donate and the guy was all but picky. He sat in the kitchen and watched as Daiki fussed over the living room, eyes following his every movement. Daiki didn’t like the look, not one bit. “Stop staring!” He swept the shards of glass, then pushed the destroyed coffee table away. He’ll take it out once he was sure Kagami wouldn’t run away. The next and surely the worst task was scrubbing the blood-covered wooden floorboards. It took him ages, really. At first, he toyed with the idea of making Kagami help, but he thought better of it. “I told you to stop it!“

  “Let’s go out!” The man grinned, fangs glistening in the lamplight.

  “What?!”

  “I said let’s go out!” Kagami repeated. “I’m still hungry!”

  He didn’t need to think about that at all. “No.” No fucking way! Kagami would probably pounce on the first person they met, judged by the crazed look on his face. How the fuck could he be hungry?! He drank like a cistern of blood by this point! Not even Murasakibara drank that much and he was known to be the glutton of the pack.

  “C’mon!” The redhead whined. He pushed himself off the chair and stalked towards where Daiki knelt, scrubbing on one extra persistent stain. His feet hardly made any sound against the floorboards. “Why not?”

  It was the lack of sound that made Daiki even more alerted.

  He tossed away the rug and got up, facing the other. “It’s almost morning, asshole, that’s why!” He snarled into Kagami’s face. Was he stupid or blind?! And where the fuck was Tetsu when he needed him? He should be the one dealing with all this shit, not Daiki!

  Kagami bared his teeth too, taunting him. “Are you afraid of few sun rays?” His ruby eyes locked with Daiki’s, unwavering, burning with both hunger and something else, something that sent shivers running down the length of Daiki’s spine. He imagined this was what his snacks saw before he pounced.

  Okay, he had enough.

  “Fuck off.”

  “But I’m hungry!”

  “You know what? You had enough tonight! Go sleep or something, I don’t care! If it rains, we’ll go out, but that’s it! And feel free to clean this shit!”

  He wanted to shower and he wanted to sleep, fuck Kagami and his bottomless stomach. Daiki agreed to help Tetsu with the carcass, not to babysit this annoying, loud, finger-biting bastard. He just turned on his heel, ready to go take the fucking shower, but fingertips brushed against the back of his neck, making the fine hair there rise.

  “Hey Aomine..”

  See, that was the second mistake he made that night – the first being the moment when he managed to get himself bitten. Never, like never ever ever, turn your back onto crazed vampire. There is only one way it can go and it’s not pretty.

  “..wait a minute."

 


	3. Deal

 

 

 

> _When a recently turned vampire joins the pack, it is usually taken under the wing of an elder who teaches the fledgling how to hunt. While some packs have no patience with slow learners, most fledglings are given a bit of time to get up to speed. However, an unusually quick learner may be perceived as a threat and destroyed by the pack leader. Fledglings are naturally occupying the lowest rungs of the hierarchy ladder. They are the last ones to feed from the kill, often being left with only small amounts of blood. Once the whole pack is fed, they are the ones responsible for the disposal of the body, i. e. tearing it apart. Some may consider this behavior as a proof that vampires are cruel and monstrous, but in fact it is more a question of pragmatism - it is much easier to hide severed body parts than a whole corpse._
> 
> _\- Imayoshi Shouchi, The Bloody Cult, p. 43_

 

 

 

  Some vampires, for example Midorima, preferred to grow their nails long - see, their nails were naturally stronger than humans’, so when in decent length, such a jagged or pointed fingernail could make for a great weapon. Daiki was sincerely glad Kagami’s nails were still short. He could feel them graze the back of his neck as the other grabbed for him, only this time he wasn’t fast enough.

  But it was still close.

  Fuck! Shivers ran down his spine in an aftermath of the fleeting touch, setting all of his nerve endings ablaze. Something in the back of his mind, the same voice that whispered into his ear when he picked his next meal now protested loudly because this wasn’t right. It. Wasn’t. _Right._ He was the predator here, never the pray! He wasn’t supposed to find himself on the receiving end of another creature’s hunger. Even the image itself made him nauseous.

  Which stupid part of Kagami still refused to grasp the fact that he wasn’t supposed to feed off his own kind?!

  “Hey!” The redhead gave it another try. A faint creak of floorboards could be heard as he leapt forward.

  Too late, sucker.

  Daiki spun around, taking the unprepared redhead by surprise. What the fuck was he thinking?! The idiot was hundred years too young to even try shit like that on him! Kagami didn’t know what hit him, quite literally. He stumbled a few steps backwards as Daiki’s fist connected with his freshly healed jaw with a small, sickening crunch.

  “Don’t you fuckin‘ dare!”

  Ten seconds could have passed before the redhead collected himself, fueled by the gnawing at his stomach. He lifted one hand to wipe at his mouth, ruby eyes widening in surprise when it came back bloody. His fangs probably tore through his bottom lip when he got hit and now the thick carmine liquid slowly slid down his chin, pooled there and dripped onto the stark white shirt Daiki had lent him mere hours ago. The stain seemed almost black in the early morning darkness.

  Silence settled between them. Blood was still dripping from Kagami’s slowly healing lips, glistening in the pale orange lamplight, and the worn out fabric soaked it all in eagerly, the stain growing bigger and bigger with each passing second. „Ow.. I guess,“ scoffed the redhead then, yet the smirk stretching on his face indicated everything but actual pain. He was in Daiki’s face the very next second.

  It was one of his favorite shirts, the one Kagami was wearing now. He bought it on his first trip to Hong Kong and it was so old one could say it was actually modern again. Tetsu used to borrow it whenever he had one of his bad days, so it eventually smelled more like him than anything else which was why Daiki gave it to Kagami in the first place. There wasn't much to it beside that. The fabric was worn out thin, to the point where he anticipated it falling apart anytime he as much as touched it. Turns out it didn't. When he grabbed Kagami by the collar that night, the fabric held like a vice.

  "I told you, didn't I?" He sneered, but once again, the idiot made nothing of him. The ruby eyes were firmly glued on his own - from this close, Daiki could see the various shades of red blending in his irises - shining with mirth. He didn't like the look, not a single bit. The idiot must've thought he had the higher ground.

  Their noses almost bumped when the redhead murmured: "Told me what?"

  His mouth was inches from Kagami’s jugular. The skin there looked smooth, almost inviting. It was easy to imagine sinking his teeth into it.. No way! One of them had to stay in their right mind. Gathering the last scraps of his mental strength, Daiki repeated his promise from the earlier hours - “If you try to bite me again, I’m going to tear your dick off.” - yet it came out all but threatening. He blamed Kagami and his stupid, still bleeding mouth.

  “I think I’ll risk it.”

  Kagami's eyes never left his face. Slowly, he brought his own bloody hand between them, towards his opened mouth and Daiki found himself unable to look away even though he tried, fuck, he really tried! It was as if he sunk under a spell. Tiptoeing on the verge of horror and sick fascination, he watched as the redhead’s lips opened even wider, pink tongue coming to lap at his own flesh.

  Daiki's nose had already picked on the new scent – it was nothing like the sweet and faint Tetsu, hell no, it felt as if he were punched in the jaw and then thrown face-first into what was perhaps the most delicious of feasts. For a brief moment, Kagami took over all of his senses. The world swam in crimson and smelled like heaven and hell combined, once again causing the fine hair on the back of his neck to rise as another violent shiver rattled through his frame. Kagami’s tongue swept over the soft skin between his knuckles, licking at the bloody smear and good fucking Lord, he was so close Daiki could almost taste it on the tip of his own tongue, too.

  “Aomine?”

  He could feel the familiar itch in his gums. It spread from the roots of his teeth, making him bite the inside of his cheeks in a weak attempt to fight the gnawing urge. Black spots danced in front of his eyes. Daiki took a deep breath, but it didn’t help. Quite the opposite actually, as more of Kagami’s scent filled his mind.

  He needed to get away from the man right now, for the sake of his sanity.

  The redhead must’ve realized what was happening to him - maybe he wasn’t so dumb after all or perhaps he just noticed something matching reflecting in their faces – and as the inevitable call of hunger curled its claws around Daiki’s throat, Kagami spotted his chance. “C’mon, I know you're hungry, too,“ he taunted in voice barely above whisper, “let’s go out. It’ll be quick-”

  “Fuck off!”

  That was right.

  Turning on his heel, he made his way into the kitchen. He still had some of those iced packs left. One or two might put brakes on the madness stirring in his chest and then, he was going to deal with Kagami. The guy was trailing after him, Daiki could tell even with the absolute lack of sound, he could feel the fiery gaze burning holes into the back of his neck. The redhead made no effort to jump at the opportunity this time. Instead, he began to babble, hoping he could perhaps persuade him now when the urge caught up with him, too. Well, he was wrong.

  The thing was, Kagami didn’t understand. He hadn’t witnessed his loved ones being torn apart, hadn’t knelt in a puddle of their blood and hadn’t heard the silence, the terrible, crushing silence that enveloped everything dead. And then the realization..

  Some things you can never forget.

  “Look, you might not get it now, but give it three days and you would regret going out of that door.”

  “That’s bullshit.” So the idiot didn't believe him, huh? Fine, he didn't have to. It might be actually even better like this - let him stay high and mighty, let him question everything that crossed his way. Let him learn in his own pace what it really meant to change like this, to shed humanity as if it were nothing but a cheap, torn coat. Daiki didn't doubt that Kagami would find himself colliding with that wall too, one day. In the end, they were all destinied to succumb to the monsters wearing their skin.

Daiki knelt to the freezer, half tempted to rest his head against its icy doors. The stained floorboards were long forgotten. He grabbed a pair of iced packs and tossed one to Kagami who in exchange crumbled onto the floor next to him, his split lip was once again intact. The only real trace of the damage done was the bloody shirt. "Thanks." The crazy asshole immediately started wolfing on the frozen blood as if there were no tomorrow. Hell, he almost bit off his own fingers.

  Daiki had learned to appreciate this way of feeding decades ago, on long summer days when the sun shone so bright it was actually painful and he couldn’t really hide under his blankets because of the heat. On days like that, he would nest in the bathroom, savor in the coldness that radiated from the pale tiles and do nothing. It wasn't as if the world missed him or anything.

  Frozen blood didn’t taste like anything in particular, but it was enough to tame the monster in his belly for now. Not for long, though. If he counted right, then the last time he fed – really fed, not this frozen rubbish – was three days ago. He was nearing his limit.

  You know what they say - a blood bag a day keeps the doctor away.

  As they got older, vampires slowly built sort of endurance when it came to hunger. While the young ones required to feed basically daily, guys like Kise or Akashi could function without a meal for almost ten days and no one would notice a thing. Right now, Daiki guessed he was somewhere mid-way. He didn't need to be fed every single day anymore, no, he could actually do pretty fine for as many as three or four days, but that was it.

  Once a vampire stopped feeding, their body would start slipping into a stupor-like state fairly similar to the blood coma. When Tetsu decided to go on his little hunger-strike, Daiki had witnessed the whole thing first-hand.

  It hurt. He could recall the little man curling on the couch, nibbling on his own fingertips while claiming he didn't feel any of the cramps. Even back then, he knew Tetsu lied. Eventually, after a fortnight of fasting he slipped into the stupor. It was quite quick - they went to bed like on any other mildly sunny morning and when the sun slid beyond the horizon and Daiki pulled the covers off the small, lithe frame, Tetsu was already unmoving. Naturally, his first reaction was to panic. In his deffense, he really thought the kid was dead. Who wouldn't freak out?! When Daiki thought about it now, the whole thing was embarrassing, really. Just like with the blood coma, Tetsu claimed to hear everything he said and well, not all of it sat well with him. That evening played a big part in his later decision to move out, but whatever. Life with Tetsu happened a long time ago and Daiki really shouldn't be salty about it anymore.

 The thing is, the stupor didn't really lead to death. Once Tetsu's body revolted, the pain went away. He was able to think. He could even open his eyes and stare at Daiki while the older desperately tried to feed him some of the blood he managed to bring home from his hunts. It was only the vampire system reacting to the long period of fasting - Daiki guessed it was kinda hibernation-like thing, shutting off everything remotely useless in order to stay alive. Or, well, in order to stay undead. Death would creep in weeks later, it would nest in the ribcage and slowly eat away at the starved body until there was nothing left. 

  Daiki wasn't afraid of death. Sometimes, he would say he even looked forward to it, awaited it eagerly while hidden in the shadows of his home. The thing he was afraid of was dying slowly, with the knowledge of one's ultimate end nearing with each second.

  It was almost morning and they were really out of blood by this point. He could only guess how long will it take for his own body to start cramping and once it did, he had the feeling that Kagami wouldn't cater to him in any way. The guy was more likely to consider devouring him as well and Daiki had the feeling he might not manage to fight him off this time.

  No way. He was going to call Tetsu. If anything, then the little guy could at least bring them some blood packs or maybe even better, he could inform Akashi of Kagami’s existence and finally start cleaning up this whole mess. Eventually, Daiki decided to do just that. He left Kagami on the kitchen floor and went to get his mobile. The damn thing was lying on the coffee table before the idiot managed to smash it into pieces and now it was nowhere to be seen. After few minutes of swearing and crawling around the room on all fours, he discovered it under one of the armchairs. The following part should be easy.

  He shouldn’t have harbored any hopes.

  “I can’t come right now. Sorry, Aomine-kun.”

  The thing about Tetsu was that he like fifty different ways of speech. To an untrained ear, they might all sound the same – flat and uninterested or perhaps plain dead – but frankly, Daiki was able to tell them apart for most of the time. It shouldn't be a surprise, after all, they spent decades together.

  “Please be patient,” came from the speaker in a voice flatter than ever. This tone was reserved for great lies. Akashi was probably nearby. Daiki would bet Tetsu hadn’t told him yet.

  Sadly, he wasn't in a patient mood anymore.

  “Fuck patience!” Maybe he should tell the little man that Kagami tried to fucking eat him, that might make him change his mind! Or no, wait - that was actually a detail he should better keep for himself, for the sake of Kagami's life and his own honour as well. “Look, he’s awake and he’s being fucking difficult, so get your ass over here right fucking now! I need to go on hunt. I’m out of blood and-“

  He’d probably start rambling if Tetsu hadn’t cut him off. “Look out of the window. Now.”

  Right. Of course.

  Daiki grabbed one of the heavy curtains and pulled it away just the tinniest bit, even though he already knew what the small guy meant. The sky was clear. Not only clear, but already brightening as the sun slowly started to rose above the eastern horizon. Another day came and its colors were quite beautiful - the rich and vibrant azure reminded him of Tetsu's eyes and for a fleeting moment he felt a strange, sharp sensation under his breast bone, as if someone stuck a tea spoon between his ribs. The strange feeling traveled through his core, making it feel even colder before clenching on his throat. Daiki hated it.

  It took him less than a second to identify the despicable feeling.

  Longing.

  Right, he missed the little man. He missed his soft crudeness and hardly noticeable presence as well as the missed the nimble cold fingers that used to stroke his back whenever he knelt in the bathroom, throwing up the human food. He missed running his own fingers through the soft sky-blue tresses, missed the small affections and arguments he had never won.

  He missed the man whole.

  "Just come soon, alright?"

  Daiki could almost see the small smile tugging on his lips as Tetsu sighed: "I will."

  Good, he hoped it would be sooner before they perished. Well, then there was still the possibility of him devouring Kagami. That was actually a mighty good idea, not only did the redhead smell delicious - just the memory made Daiki's mouth water - but his disappearance would also calm whatever inferno Akashi might plan for them. Still, they were probably tied when it came to physical fight, plus Kagami fed really well tonight. Hunting him down might be kinda hard. No, Daiki realized, he couldn't kill Kagami. Even if he somehow managed to forget the don't-feed-off-your-own rule, there would still be another, way more difficult thing to get over - Tetsu would hate him.

  The tiny guy was still on the other end of the line, probably sensing the battle within him, waiting for him to made up his mind. Daiki caught the faint sound of his breathing and he didn't even try to fight off the grin thst split his face - it seemed that his bad habits still stuck with Tetsu, even despite Akashi's attempts to eradicate them. That shouldn't make him happy.

  "Bye."

  "Bye, Aomine-kun."

 

* * *

 

  The sun was already up when he eventually crawled out of the bathtub. Kagami was sound asleep by then, his tall form curled on the couch, head resting on one of the navy throw pillows. He looked all but threatening like this. When he made his way into the bedroom, Daiki caught himself wondering how could such a monster - and there was no doubt Kagami was a monster inside out – look so peaceful, so harmless.

  Well, he should have known better.

  "Aomine."

  He couldn’t be asleep for more than half of a day when the asshole decided to show up and tear him out of his slumber.

  "Hey, Aomine."

  At first, Daiki thought he somehow miraculously died and woke up in hell. Opening his eyes was an excruciating feat, especially with the sun so high, but he managed. The pair of crimson dots staring right into his soul made him want to shut them again. If he were in hell, then this must be a demon. "I'm hungry!"

  Demon would perhaps be easier to deal with.

  The redhead was sitting on the edge of his bed, looking nothing short of manic. His eyes were glazed over, unblinking, never really leaving Daiki’s face as he pawed on the bed sheets. Aside from that, daytime suited Kagami. His hair was still messy from sleep and the tinted light that seeped through the curtains made his skin glow golden. He would make for a fine mid-day snack.

  Great. Did his brain decide to fuck with him, too?!

  "Go back to sleep," he sighed, turning away from the overgrown fledgling, but it was no use.

  "I can’t!" A pair of trembling hands found his shoulders and the redhead began shaking with him vigorously, so hard that the whole bed frame rattled under the impact. "I-I mean it! I’m fucking starving here! Look, just gimme the keys to the fucking door and you’ll never see me again, I promise! Just let me out, I fucking need it, I.."

  Daiki was sure he needed it, but that didn't really change anything. Even if he wanted to feed the guy, they hadn't had any blood left and he most certainly wasn’t going to let him walk out of the door like this, for his own good. The best thing they could do for now was to wait till the evening, then Tetsu will come and they’ll figure something out. At least he hoped so.

  “Are you even listening to me?!” The thing was – no, Daiki wasn’t listening. His mind was still unfocused thanks to the thick fog of sleep. The daylight also didn't help a thing. It threatened to seep through the curtains at any moment given, only if the wind as much as blew the wrong way through the open window. Had he listened closely, he might have heard the faint trace of desperation lacing the other’s voice. He might have foreseen what was coming.

  But he hadn’t really paid Kagami that much attention.

  "Fuck off."

  Mistake number three.

  Daiki wasn’t really sure what happened then. He vaguely remembered waving at the idiot – maybe he tried to swat him away? – when a hand clasped around his forearm. Next thing he knew, he was yanked upright.

  Daiki was sure he forgot how to breathe when he felt the pair of plump lips brushing over the inside of his wrist.

  Shit.

  The sound he made then wasn’t exactly the most dignified one, but he didn't give a damn. Fight or flight instinct kicked in hard and this time, Daiki chose to flee. He tore the assaulted limb out of the other’s grip and leapt towards the window,  blindly reaching for the thick fabric. It buzzed between his fingers - wait, no, his fingertips stung when he touched it - and pulled roughly.

  The very next millisecond, his bedroom was bathing in the brightest summer sunlight.

  It was pretty drastic solution, he wouldn't deny that, but it served its purpose. The light was supposed to put Kagami in his place. Vampires were naturally hypersensitive to daylight, but the newborn ones were a whole different story.

  Daiki would swear he saw puffs of smoke rising from Kagami's form. The redhead crumbled down right on the spot - which was, sadly, right in the middle of Daiki's fucking bed, dammit, that's fucking gross! - and he let out the most startling, blood curling scream ever. His skin was covered in blisters almost immediately. The redhead tried to shield his face with his arm which ultimately lead to the blisters only getting worse - the skin on his elbow began to crack and peel away, revealing another, angry red layer underneath. Kagami reached around blindly with his other arm. His palm slid over the soft fabric of Daiki's bed sheets until he eventually managed to throw the blanket over his boiling form, probably hoping it would save him from the pain.

  Alright, that was enough. Squinting, Daiki pulled the curtains shut.

  His own side was itching like crazy and places with dry skin like elbows and knuckles already began to peel, but aside from that, he was good. Not as much could be said about Kagami. The redhead was still curled under the blanket, whimpering, probably nursing his own destroyed skin. There's no need to kick into the dead, Daiki knew that, but fuck it, he was more than tempted to kick the man. Or strangle him. Or tear into his throat. The last thought sincerely startled him - he wasn't like that, was he? What the hell?!

  Instead of pondering about the unsettling image, he tore the blanket out of the guy’s grip and tossed it into the furthest corner. Great. He had to change the sheets tonight.

  "So?! Are _you_ afraid of few sun rays, asshole?!"

  When Kagami looked up at him, eyes watery and face was still covered in blisters, Daiki could already tell they made a huge progress. Lesson learned. He'd say it was no sunlight for this vampire, at least for another five or six years.

  Still, the asshole had the nerve to laugh. "Fuck sun, man!" It was a dry, bitter sound, a bit muffled as the redhead decided roll on his back, but there was still something awfully charming about it. “Alright, no going out then, you won.” 

  Neither of them managed to fall asleep afterwards. Daiki was too busy stomping on the quickly growing attraction he felt towards the redhead - he blamed the blood. If Kagami didn't happen to bleed in front of him, he would've never caught the mindblowing scent which seemed to be the root of this weird, unwanted infatuation in the first place. If he could stop the man from bleeding in front of him ever again, maybe then they could go back to simple aversion. The only problem was that vampires hardly ever forgot more defined tastes. There was a huge chance the bastard still remembered his taste from when he bit his fingers earlier. When he thought about it now, that might even be the reason why he tried to bite him every once in a while.

  Time passed only slowly, almost as if it took joy in tormenting them while they could do nothing but wait and play along. Kagami didn’t make any move to get out of the bedroom and Daiki categorically refused to yield, so eventually, they ended up occupying their respective halves of the bed - okay, Daiki was bit salty about it because the whole place was _his_ , the fucker had no right to claim anything - while swapping insults as well as bits of personal information. He had to admit Kagami wasn’t so unbearable, once he wasn’t whining about hunger or trying to eat him alive. Yeah, he still pushed the boundaries every now and then, but aside from that, it seemed that the little sunbathing session helped him escape the post-transformational madness.

  He used to be a firefighter. Twenty-three, no wife, no kids, not even a fucking cat. That was a shabby life. He was too old, Daiki realized, far too old to be part of their pack. How? He’s basically a newborn, someone might counter. Right, the guy might not really reach them age-wise, but physically he seemed much older. He would look like a college student hanging out with a bunch of high school kids. If there happened to be a group hunt, he would stick out like a sore thumb.

  “So, what do you guys do all the time?” Kagami sighed, fingers of his right tracing idle little patterns on his stomach. Daiki obviously ignored the way the shitty shirt rode up. “I mean, aside from killing people.”

  Ouch! Now that hit a tad too close to home. He looked up from the magazine – it was something about pop-culture and Satsuki demanded he read it “for the sake of adaptation” – and frowned: “What do you mean?” There was the thing about literally owning the night, but were they doing anything interesting aside from that? He couldn’t exactly tell him they were dying of boredom, could he?

  “I don’t know, do you go out? Binge watch stuff on Netflix? Do sports?”

  Alright, he asked for it. The night stuff will have to do. “Umm, yeah, we-“

  Daiki was just about to inform the Kagami of the unending – and almost non-existing – joys of eternal life when the guy suddenly shot up. What was it? Another fit?! He was already reaching for the curtain, ready to give the idiot another healthy dose of sun roasting when the fucker grinned: “Can you play ball?”

  “Ball?”

  “Yeah, basketball! You’re literally built for it.”

  And that was it. For the first time since he laid his eyes on the bloody carcass, Daiki didn’t really mind Tetsu turning Kagami. Sure, he was an insatiable, cannibalistic jerk, but if he were able to entertain him at least for a year or two, then Daiki would gladly play cat and mouse with him. Occasionally. “You bet I do!”

  Kagami’s smile mirrored his own when he said: “Great! We have to play some time. I’ll kick your ass.”

  “You wish.”

  And so they were good.

  Of course, it would be foolish to think such an easiness would last longer than few moments, especially with the redhead still starved from the transformation. Soon, he was back to his asshole self, usurping more and more space, fingers brushing over Daiki’s leg every now and then. It was mighty annoying. “What’s your fucking problem?!” Daiki growled, ready to smack the guy with the magazine at any moment given.

  The answer was, unsurprisingly: “I’m hungry.” Oh, as if he hadn’t heard that billion times already!

  “Fine, I’m hungry too, but guess what?! It’s fucking sunny outside!” He rolled his eyes at the redhead, but Kagami wasn't going to give up so easily. Then again, Daiki didn’t really expect him to, after all the shit he already tried to pull off.

  One of the forked eyebrows rose. “You too?” It was a dangerous look, indicating nothing less than a beginning of a plan. Daiki didn't like it at all.

  “No, idiot.” Sometimes, rolling your eyes just wasn’t enough. “Of-fucking-course I am!” Saying he was hungry would be an understatement. He could already feel the knot tightening in his stomach - soon, the cramps will start and then God knows what. Fuck, he should’ve fed when he had the chance, but no, he had to be so fucking absorbed with the carcass, then the whole shit with Kagami happened and they ran out of blood and the fucking sun-

  “Great! I have an idea then.”

  He must’ve heard wrong. What was so great about hunger?!

  Daiki hadn’t had the chance to ask since Kagami chose that moment to spring into motion, but this time he wasn’t attacking. He only itched closer to the surprised vampire, well, suspiciously close, so much that their shoulders touched. Then, he dropped the offer: “Have mine.”

  The memory of his scent was enough to make Daiki shiver. Still, he had to hold onto his sanity.

  “Are you shitting me?!”

  The sun must’ve burned his last brain cells if he believed that was a good idea!

  "No, seriously," Kagami shook his head. “I’ll give you mine, you gimme yours. It’s no big deal, right?”

  It was an absolute, utter nonsense, plus it went against the only existing feeding rule. They were both insane for even thinking about it.

  Sharing blood was not meant to be a feeding tactic, fuck no. It was binding. Human blood filtered through vampire system gained new features - it was cold and thus thicker, filled with the thing that stopped them from aging as well as a palette of another secrets. Every drop spilled should be cherished and licked clean and every drop wasted should be mourned over for three nights.

  It had the same effect on one's brain as a dose of LSD, Midorima tried to explain to him once, but Daiki wasn't sure what the LSD thing was and he wasn't really that interested anyway. It's not like he ever planned on doing it.

  Blood sharing was a ritual. It was something sacred, something to be done between lovers only. It required nothing less than absolute trust. When you chose to offer someone your throat, you were placing your naked existence into the palm of their hand. What if the one you chose grew greedy or voracious? What will happen if they drink and drink and drink, until you're nothing but a shell of your real self or worse, until you're no more?

  Of course, Kagami didn't know any of that. To him, Daiki was just another blood pack, only bigger and more resistant. If he agreed, they would be desecrating the ritual itself.

  The real question was: did he really care?

  He felt the pull towards the redhead, that was beyond doubt. Being where he was now, he also had nothing to loose. If he were meant to finally die today, then he could as well go with stomach full of the most delicious blood he'd ever smelt.

  Maybe the redhead would really save him from the clutches of eternity.

  “No,” he breathed out seconds later, “no big deal.”

  Little did he know that he just shook hands with the Devil.

  Kagami knelt next to him. Slowly, he offered Daiki his right wrist, palm up, veins visible under the pale skin. “Go on.”

  So, he did. There was no need to tell him twice.

  His fangs sunk into the smooth skin with ease. Next to him, the redhead swore softly.

  It could only be described as pure bliss, no, it was so much better, no words could successfully describe how it felt. Uplifting. Incredible. The most addictive kind of high. The skin under his lips got slippery as the thick blood oozed from where he tore into the other’s flesh and Daiki lapped, licked, sucked. Not a drop of the liquid heaven got wasted, he made sure of that.  Kagami’s left was currently tugging at his hair, forcing him to bend his neck sideways and he complied, hell, he would probably go with anything as long as he could still taste the high that came with this redhead.

  They fumbled around a bit, but he hardly registered anything beside the Kagami. His skin tingled where the man touched it. Soon, he felt perhaps as if he were set on fire, squirming under Kagami’s hand, leaning into him. There was so much more the other had to give and Daiki wanted all of it, no excuses. It was as if his body already knew the drill. He didn’t even flinch when the redhead pressed against him, didn’t make a sound when the cold tongue swept over his own jugular. Blood flowed and flowed, filling his belly and clouding his mind, turning him into a pliant mess under the other’s lips. Soon, he could feel the sharp teeth grazing his skin - yes, that's it - then the pressure and eventually even bit of pain as a pair of fangs sank into his throat.

  Pain mixed with the fire in his veins, pushing him beyond the borders of describable. Someone was talking, it might be him or perhaps it was Kagami mumbling feverish nonsense against his bleeding wound, moaning between the long, greedy gulps, or perhaps it were both of them.

  Daiki wasn’t sure how long did they stay like that. When the fog in his mind cleared and he came back to his senses, he was being crushed in a bear-like hug, his back resting against something solid. The headboard? No, it was Kagami’s chest - he could feel the soft hair tickling his face as the man licked over his healing wound, mouthing all kinds of praises.

  Daiki didn't mind. For the first time in his life, he felt really content. Full. Sated. Stripped of the guilt and all worries. He still blamed Kagami though. The guy managed to bend something in him and since that fateful day, nothing was ever the same. 

  He wasn't the same.


End file.
